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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

We got up too darn early this morning. Since I am not a morning person, this is painful for me. However, when I go to sheepdog or cow dog trials, I have no issue getting up in the morning. Go figure!!

We had heavy winds during the night so we woke up a couple of time. The power went our briefly. The winds were 35-55 mph. A lot of branches were down and as well as several trees. The ride to the hospital was dark and windy. I was still really tired.

We checked in and got to our rooms. I had three nurses preparing me. They had very thick African accents and I could not understand one at all. I asked one what my heart rate was and he said it was 108. Normally it is 45-48 so that had me worried and I asked again. He was adamant that is was 108 bpm. I would think if I saw a patient’s heart rate was 108 beats per minute, I would be a bit worried. He was not. He was a new hire at Overlake in Bellevue WA.

The same guy tried to put an IV in my arm. He used Lidocaine to numb the vein and before it had time to work, he jabbed me so I twitched. He didn’t get a vein. So another nurse tried to put an IV in. Same results.

What!! We are not done, she tried a THIRD time and I didn’t jump as she let the Lidocaine work and she didn’t get a vein. My right arm was massacred by this time. They blamed it on ME and not themselves. Funny thing is all the other times I was at Overlake, the other nurses got the IV in on the first try. The third nurse in the room did not try to do an IV. So why is it that I am at fault when the two nurses could not get an IV in?

They called a fourth nurse in. He is apparently very good at putting IVs in and *poof* he got it quickly. That’s good as I was running out of places on my arm. Now my arm is very bruised and one area there is a bruise that is about 4” x 1.5” and hurts. The other bruises are smaller. I was not happy about the four attempts on putting an IV in my arm.

(ADDED on 1/2/09 - the bruising has gone down. I have outlined where the original size of the bruise was at. You can see how huge it is. The others three bruises were half this size.)

That was the night shift and then the day shift nurse, Sharon came in. Sharon has been my nurse before and is very good. She got me set up for the Cardio Version. There was some mussing about as not all the supplies were ready but they got that squared away.

Dr. Condon arrived, dressed nattily as usual and wore his charming smile. I got hooked up to the Cardio Version machine. He is going to do the procedure to reset my heart since it has Atrial Flutter.

He loaded me with the *sleepy time* drug and I was in lala land. ZZZZZ….then I woke up and it was done. The flutter was gone and we hope it stays stable enough and not return. I was pretty groggy.

I am to see Dr. Condon next week for a follow up an EKG and a Protime test. It is set for next Thursday at 9:30 a.m. He left and Sharon was in charge of me. I went back to sleep and finally later at 11:30 a.m. Getty was able to take me home.

I crawled into bed and fell asleep again. My chest was hurting where they put the pads and my arm was killing me. When I would move my arm, it would hurt and since it is my right arm, that limits me. But luckily for me, I use my left hand quite well and just shifting the duties to that arm. I can also write with my left hand.

Getty fed the animals and then went off to work. Tess snuggled next to me and Nan at my side and we all took long naps until Getty came home.

I got up to watch the LSU vs. GA Tech Game. LUS won it hands down 38-3. Getty was very happy and of course, Tess was in his lap.

Right now, I am still on the blood thinner and baby aspirin. I will be until all the heart procedures are done, the heart is stable and the clamshell has held and new tissue growth is going. I will be going back to Dr. Condon for the next few months. I am happy that the hole in the heart is closed and it is healing. The flutter issue (hopefully) will be a thing in the past. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is a wonderful, glowing light!!

It’s a great way to end the of 2008. 2009 is just going to be so much better and I really look forward to it.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

No posting today as I am gonna to go to bed early since I have to get up at 4:30ish a.m. to go to the hospital. I have another heart procedure to be done. It is the Cardio Version. I'll update when I get home tomorrow.

Here is a sheep joke to tide you over:

LUCKY LAMB

A man takes the day off work and decides to go out golfing. He is on the second hole when he notices a little lamb sitting next to the green. He thinks nothing of it and is about to shoot when he hears, "Baaaa. 9 Iron" The man looks around and doesn't see anyone. "Baaaa. 9 Iron." He looks at the little lamb and decides to prove the lamb wrong, puts his other club away, and grabs a 9 iron. Boom! he hits it 10 inches from the cup. He is shocked. He says to the little lamb, "Wow that's amazing. You must be a lucky lamb, eh?" The little lamb reply's "Baaaa. Lucky lamb." The man decides to take the little lamb with him to the next hole. "What do you think little lamb?" the man asks. "Baaaa. 3 wood." The guy takes out a 3 wood and Boom! Hole in one. The man is befuddled and doesn't know what to say.

By the end of the day, the man golfed the best game of golf in his life and asks the little lamb, "OK where to next?" The little lamb replies "Baaaa. Las Vegas." They go to Las Vegas and the guy says, "OK little lamb, now what?" The lamb says, "Baaaa Roulette." Upon approaching the roulette table, the man asks," What do you think I should bet?" The little lamb replies, "Baaaa. $3000,black 6." Now, this is a million-to-one shot to win, but after the golf game, the man figures what the heck. Boom! Tons of cash comes sliding back across the table.

The man takes his winnings and buys the best room in the hotel. He sits the little lamb down and says, "Lamb, I don't know how to repay you. You've won me all this money and I am forever grateful." The little lamb replies, "Baaaa, Kiss Me." He figures why not, since after all the little lamb did for him he deserves it.

2 While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick) in large frying pan.

3 Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.

6 Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.

7 Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.Serves four.

This is how to make a real English shepherds pie, made with lamb. If made with beef, it would be known as cottage pie.

Firstly, heat the olive oil in a pan, add the onion, garlic and carrot and cook until soft. Add minced lamb and stock cube, then cook until the mince is brown and shows a crumbly texture. Stir in the tomatoes and tomato puree, and add the corn flour. Leave to simmer, stirring occasionally, for about fifteen minutes, or until thickened.

Meanwhile, peel and chop potatoes and boil until soft, then mash them with the butter and salt and pepper to taste.

Put the filling into a deep dish, then top with the mashed potatoes and put under a warm grill (broiler) until the top is brown and crisp.

We had a horrible snowstorm. Earlier Tess had to move the sheep home from the far pasture. We did that earlier and we had to move the chickens. The snow was about 14 inches and the chicken coop was freezing. So I wanted to move the chickens into a horse stall in the barn.

Chickens are not the brightest bulb in the ceiling, or the sharpest knife in the drawer. I told the hens they needed to go to the horse stall. They perched tighter on their beds.

So, I brought in the "Hen Dog". Tess went in quietly and PUSHED them off the beds and nudged them out the door. This was working really well as she is a good dog to move poultry. The chickens reluctantly moved out into the snow.

The poor hen's heads barely stuck above the snow. Some of the Banty hens burrowed in the snow or sank into the 14 inches of snow. This is not a good scene.

In this picture Tess is burrowing after a chicken. She found it and then pushed it with her nose to the surface. I was quite impressed.

Then it flew off. The audacity of it all!! She watched it fly off and then looked at me as if to say "Say what??"

She then got most of them in the stall. Imagine 20 hens going 20 different directions. Tess worked her but off to get them in the stall.

One hen was was less than thrilled about the whole affair.

The Rhode Island Reds who actually listened to Tess. A couple of the Banties flew into the hay section. So I sent Tess up the hay stack.

Tess in the hay section looking for the few that escaped. She is at the top of the hay and scanning for the escapees!!

Wait, gotta stop and pose for the camera.

She spies the last few escapee and then put them in the stall. All is done and she was great. The chickens are safe and warm in the horse stall and Tess is my hero.

Earlier this week, it began to snow hard and fast. Most of my sheep were at my far field. I knew the roads were be impassable so we needed to bring the sheep home. They were my Clun Forest ewes. I grabbed Tess and off we went.

The road already had a foot of snow and it was dumping. I live on a dead end street and not often I get traffic when I move my sheep

Not that day, as there were two Sheriff cars were on the road. I had to flag one to move as I was taking the sheep out of the pasture as he was in the way. He was very nice about it. I told him what was going on and asked him why there were two Deputies on the road.

Apparently someone call them since they claimed someone was shooting guns off....they have to investigate any calls concerning gunfire. It is duck season and of course there was gun fire. The Game warden and his pals were hunting on private property. There are a lot of hunters in this area.

Yep, sic the Deputies on the Game Warden. Guess that person had nothing better to do than waste valuable police time.

So Tess is moving the flock down the road and I hop in Getty's SUV and we are behind Tess. She is pushing them down nice and slow down the road when the second Deputy car appears in the road. I stop her and the sheep swarm around his car and then I have to wave him off to the side in the deep snow so I could pass.

I am sure he was wondering why someone was moving sheep but I think the first Deputy probably filled him in on that I needed to get them home before the storm hit.

We waved to him as we drove by and wished him a Merry Christmas and waved to the Game Warden as we drove by him. Tess, on the other had, being a seasoned pro on bringing the flock home, had pushed the sheep home and was holding them near the lower pasture gate. She probably was wondering why we were so slow and why she had to do all the work.

Today Janet and I worked dogs. It was nice but as soon as we started to work the dogs, then it began to rain and get dark. We took various pixs but a lot didn't turn out due to the darkness and rain drops on the lens.

Tess bringing the flock. The snow has melted from over 14 inches to 11 or so inches. They are all Clun Forest except for Danny the Dorset/Rambioullet pet wether!!

Tess and me. Look how much better I look. See how warm I am in my new parka that my brother gave me. It kept me really warm and he is such a cool brother. I wear it all the time.

Janet and Delmar Scot. Scott has gone to live with Janet and teach her the ropes in herding. They have done really well on the trial field. Janet won PN with Tess and got 4th with Scott in PN and it was her first PN trial too!! We are so proud of her. She just started to work Scott almost two months ago. They are a dynamite team.

Scott flying through the snow. The sheep are in a area where they have compacted the snow down. Snow has to leap through drifts to get to the sheep.

I worked Nan also. I made her push the sheep through the deep snow. She really had to work hard at it as she is not very powerful but by the end, she was really leaning into the sheep and moving them with confidence.

So we we chatting and hanging out and then all the dogs snuck into the field and we tried to work a trice....or whatever you call it, working three dogs. They pushed the sheep off us and then held them off. We all had a great time and came in the house to dry off.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

We got a Christmas tree this year. Granted it wasn't a six foot tree but it is a live tree. We are going to plant it in the yard and decorate it each year. We put the dog treats under the tree. The girls also got new beds and toys.

Tess spied the gifts and went to investigate.

*Sniff, sniff* went her nose when she smelled all the delightful smells. She looked around and didn't see anyone so approached the tree.

She was trying to sneak one off when I busted here. Then she sat under the tree and looked forlorn.

But in the end, Tess, Nan and Rainey got their treats. All the other dogs got treats, the livestock got extra feed and we ate thick steaks for dinner.

Monday, December 22, 2008

So, we have snow and I love working in the snow. Today, Rainey got to work.She is a very petite female with a brave heart. I see a lot of Tess in her. She has lots of courage.

She took a tumble down the hill but that didn't faze her.

She is learning to take sheep of feed. The ram is facing her but in the end, he backed down. She walked straight into him.

OK bring four sheep and one Guinea hen. She did it, by God.

Moving them off the feed. They didn't want to move but she is tough.

Getting the last of the stragglers. She has a lot of push.

Pushing the sheep off the feed. They don't want to go but she makes them move. It's good training for her and builds up her confidence. She also holds the sheep off the grain feeders in the barn stalls while I fill them.

Look at her pose!! I love her action shot.

Last but not least.....holding the draw. Rainey turned one year old in November. She is very talented and loves to help me with my chores.